Our new 2013-14 academic year will be starting soon. Registration for our incoming first-year students begins on August 14th, and fall semester classes for all students begin on August 19th. Our faculty and staff are all looking forward to it. Wearing my professor hat, I will be teaching a course in the evening division in the fall semester, and one in the day division in the spring semester. Here is a brief report on our summer developments and what’s coming up soon:

1. Admissions Data. The number of students enrolling in all law schools this coming year is expected to be the lowest in thirty years. Notwithstanding this negative trend, things are looking up for CUA Law for the coming year. Last year at this time, we had received full deposits from 168 successful applicants to hold a place in our incoming class (which ultimately consisted of 141 first-year and 8 transfer students). As of this writing, we have already received 187 full deposits from successful applicants to our J.D. program for the coming year. Thus, we are cautiously optimistic that our incoming class of first-year and transfer students will be at least as large as last year's -- a positive sign about our Law School in an otherwise down market.

2. New Immigration Litigation Clinic. One of the hottest areas of practice is immigration law. In my view, it offers a great career opportunity for our students, and one that fits very well with our mission of service to others. I am therefore very pleased to announce that CUA Law will be offering a new Immigration Litigation Clinic this coming academic year. The clinic will serve immigrants who qualify for pro bono representation. It will be taught by two adjunct faculty members, Dree Collopy, ’o7, and Michelle Mendez, who are experts in the area. In a novel arrangement, the clinic will be conducted in a joint venture with Catholic Charities, which will undertake to screen potential clients and provide space for client meetings and files. We are grateful to our adjuncts and to Catholic Charities for partnering with us to enhance our students’ law school experience in serving the needs of immigration clients.

3. New Assistant Deans. We are pleased to announce that two new Assistant Deans will be starting with us in August. Michelle Borda will be the new Assistant Dean for Administration. She is currently the Manager of Secretarial Services at Kirkland & Ellis and the founder of GETS Financial, a tax preparation service firm. Michelle will be working closely with the Dean’s office on a wide range of administrative and budgetary matters. Maura DeMouy will be joining us as the new Assistant Dean for Student Support. She is currently an Adjunct Faculty member and the Law and Leadership Coordinator at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. Maura will be responsible for supporting students in your personal, academic, and institutional social activities.

4. Major Gift from the Estate of Francis J. Lorson ’71. The Law School has been notified that it is the beneficiary of a very generous gift from the estate of our distinguished alumnus Francis J. Lorson. For thirty years, from 1972 to 2002, Frank served the public in the Clerk’s office at the Supreme Court of the United States, where he was the Chief Deputy Clerk. An article about him, his career, and his generosity appears in the summer 2013 edition of our annual alumni publication, CUA Lawyer. We invite you to read it to understand why at the Supreme Court, as Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. put it: “We all needed Frank’s help.” For our students who will benefit from his legacy, his help will be much appreciated.

5. USTTI Program at CUA Law. During the week of July 22, CUA Law hosted a training program on the Rule of Law and Best Practices in Telecommunications Regulation for the United States Telecommunications Training Institute. The USTTI provides training for communications professionals, regulators, and entrepreneurs from the developing world. Organized by Professor Donna Gregg, this summer’s program was attended by 21 regulators and attorneys from 12 different countries. It featured a presentation by alumna Kathleen Quinn Abernathy, a former Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission.

6. New Chair of the Board of Visitors. The Board of Visitors is a group of distinguished lawyers who provide advice to the Dean about ways to strengthen the Law School. For more information about our BOV, please click here. The Board has been very ably chaired by alumnus Donald Farley ’69 for the past three years. Don will be remaining on the BOV, but he is stepping down as the BOV chair with our great appreciation. Thomas Yannucci, a senior litigation partner and former chair of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, is the new BOV chair. Tom is one of the Nation’s preeminent trial and appellate lawyers, and he has a strong record of volunteer service to Catholic educational and pro bono organizations. We look forward to his leadership on the Board.

7. Courses for Practitioners. Beginning with our fall semester in August, our Law School will be offering practicing lawyers the opportunity to take our upper level courses in a wide variety of practice areas. These courses will allow attorneys to retool or to intensify their knowledge within specialty areas in which our Law School is recognized as excelling. Our courses will be open to J.D. degree holders from accredited schools or those who are in good standing with any Bar. The courses will be offered at reduced tuition rates, and the credit earned can subsequently be applied to an L.L.M. degree and for CLE credit when feasible. Information about our new Courses for Practitioners program may be found on our website at http://www.law.edu/academic/practitioners/index.cfm.

8. Alumni Visits. I am continuing my visits with groups of alumni, both at your offices and at various off-campus locations. This past month, we held “meet the new Dean” receptions for alumni at the Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service, and Securities and Exchange Commission as well at the home of Judge Raymond Satter in Denver. Additional receptions are planned in the coming months for Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Capitol Hill, and Annapolis. This has been a great opportunity for me to get to know alumni personally, to talk candidly about what’s happening at the Law School these days, and to explain how interested alumni might be able to help us with my priorities of enrollment, job placement, and fundraising.

Thank you for your interest and support. I welcome your comments at attridge@law.edu.